Memorable Manitobans: John Peter Murray (c1844-1914)

Railway engineer.

Born in Ireland, he left as a boy and lived in Nova Scotia until the age of 18 when he emigrated to Australia and worked as a sheep rancher for several years. He then returned to eastern Canada and worked as a fireman on the Intercolonial Railway, later becoming an engineer on the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was one of the first to drive an engine through Winnipeg and followed the railway as it was constructed across western Canada in the 1880s. An avid traveller, he was in South Africa when the Boer War concluded and was appointed superintendent of railway rolling stock there. He retired from railway work in 1899. He fell ill while in Barcelona, Spain and was compelled to enter a nursing home in England. He returned to Manitoba and died at St. Boniface on 14 October 1914.

Sources:

“Death of veteran railway engineer”, Manitoba Free Press, 15 October 1914. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B6]

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 24 September 2010

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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